Mara Anastas Named Publisher of Aladdin Books and Simon Pulse

Mara Anastas has been named publisher of Aladdin Books and Simon Pulse. The announcement was made by Jon Anderson, president of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing. Anastas will report to Anderson starting April 7th. She was previously deputy publisher of the comapny's Aladdin Books, Simon Pulse, Little Simon and Simon Spotlight imprints.

Anastas said in a statement, "Simon Pulse and Aladdin Books have an incredibly talented team of editors, designers and publishing professionals that have made them industry-leading children's publishing imprints. I could not be more thrilled at the prospect of working with them in this new role, together with the many world-class authors we publish, to develop new and exciting content for both of these well-established imprint."

Anderson says, "The drive and devotion Mara has shown in all her previous roles make her more than ready and entirely suited to take on his new responsibility. We look forward to Mara and the Aladdin Books and Simon Pulse teams building on their current successes like Rachel Renee Russel's Dork Diaries and Lisa McMann's The Unwanteds, and also to developing exciting new projects and properties like Brandon Mull's Five Kingdoms series, Scott Westerfeld's mind-bending novel Afterworlds, and 2015's Galactic Hot Dogs based on the popular Poptropica property."

Anastas succeeds Bethany Buck, who is leaving the company. Publishers Weeklyreports that Buck was with Simon & Schuster since 2003.